Blog Archives
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You have to admire Rep. John Mica …
- Saturday July 22, 2006…the U.S. Representative from Florida whose district includes Orlando. He’s also the House aviation subcommittee Chairman who isn’t afraid to fight for what he thinks is right. Fortunately for airports, he thinks they’re a vital part of commerce. He’s a man who likes to speak his mind. Time and again, Rep. Mica has taken the Transportation Security Administration (and Congress) to task for staffing levels, lack of clear direction, and for failing to fund and install in-line baggage screening systems at the nation’s commercial airports. A year ago, Mica suggested a temporary tax to pay the billions necessary to install such systems, and he meant ‘temporary.’ At least it was a solid... -
Seventeen Months and Counting
- Tuesday July 18, 2006When will it turnaround? I keep on waiting for some positive employment news in the airline sector, but alas I must wait for yet another month. It sounds like a broken record, but once again the news looks bad for airline employees. You see, for the seventeenth month in a row, airline employment is down compared to the previous year. This from a recently released report from the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Where are these cuts coming from? Surely this trend has to stop soon, doesn't it? Passenger levels are up. Airlines are expected to post profits for the quarter. So what gives? The airlines must be at a critical point where they can't afford many more employee cuts without sacrificing... -
Ask Not For Whom The Bomb Falls—It Falls For Thee!
- Monday July 17, 2006Back in the early 1960s, when the "Cold War" was in full swing, we college boys would sit around, smoke our Kaywoodie pipes (thus demonstrating that we were "cool") and argue about such heady subjects as where the first Soviet bombs would fall. Some said Washington, DC, the seat of guvmint. Others opined it would be the financial center, New York, NY. One of us—I forget who—said it would be the transportation centers, such as Atlanta. If I remember right, we didn’t pay much attention to him. He didn’t even have a Kaywoodie. That was over four decades ago. No nuclear bomb has fallen in anger in the entire world since then, but if that argument arose today, I would pay more attention to the transportation... -
An Anal Supervisor's Shop
- Monday July 17, 2006I am on a road trip this week and am writing this blog from a musty hotel room somewhere south of St. Louis. A couple of days ago, I was visiting with Jim Burress, paint department manager, Landmark Aviation in Springfield, IL. Me and fellow AMT team member Bob Graf walked around with Jim for almost three hours as he showed us the different areas of the facility. Of course his pride and joy was the paint department and the new state-of-the-art paint facility. A self-proclaimed "anal" paint manager, he was involved in all aspects of the design of the paint hangar, and it showed. It was truly designed with all stakeholders in mind. The painters have the tools they have to do their jobs properly; the booths are designed to provide the... -
I first met Norman Y. Mineta …
- Thursday July 13, 2006… back in 1985. I was the media guy for the National Air Transportation Association. Then-U.S. Representative Mineta was midway into a 20-year career representing the district around San Jose, CA, which subsequently named its international airport for him. Mineta was the key draw for NATA’s annual convention that year. Upon first meeting Mineta – and in subsequent meetings – one is first struck by his demeanor. He’s calm; measured; a gentleman. Such traits perhaps account for much of his success in forming coalitions, getting legislation passed, and advancing the cause of aviation. For the latter he is much credited. While talking this week with Eric Byer, VP of government affairs for NATA, he summed... -
Road Rage Explained
- Tuesday July 11, 2006Not all days were like yesterday, but yesterday was not atypical. I spoke at lunch in Reno—great group of people. Afterwards, I dashed to the airport with just enough time to check in and make the flight to Vegas where I grabbed a fast-food sandwich and milk to go. That was the modern-day version of inflight dining. The flight to Chicago was pleasant enough, even if I did sit next to an otherwise pleasant high school teacher who explained to me that my idol, economist Adam Smith, had just tried to apply Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to the world of economics. That was rather startling to me since Darwin was born more than a quarter century after Adam Smith wrote his great book, The Wealth of Nations. I managed to... -
We MUST Act Professional
- Thursday July 6, 2006First of all, I want to thank all those who responded to last week's blog The News Still Looks Bad for Maintenance. We had plenty of reader comments that contributed to the discussion on the recent BTS report on airline employment and what it means for airline mechanics. Sadly, not all the comments were able to be posted. In fact, some of them were so crude and obscene, they would make George Carlin blush. The comments were childish and very un-professional. I understand the fact that airline mechanics have had it bad the last several years. I have talked to many airline mechanics during my time here at AMT. In fact, I got a chance to talk to quite a few Northwest mechanics in the first days of the strike last year. As could be... -
Airbus Revisited
- Tuesday July 4, 2006News out of Europe this week is that co-chief executive Noel Forgeard of EADS, parent of Airbus, and Gustav Humbert, CEO of the aircraft manufacturer, are being pushed out – more fallout from the recent news of delivery delays for the double-decker airliner, the A380. And, as reported in The Wall Street Journal (July 3), Foregeard and other EADS executives are under scrutiny for sales of the company’s stock in March, just prior to announcements in A380 delays.  During an interview this week with Steve Van Beek, executive vice president of policy for Airports Council International-North America (for an upcoming August feature in AIRPORT BUSINESS), the discussion turned to the A380 and the investments airports have either... -
I Deducted Breakfast This Morning
- Monday July 3, 2006I am a charter and founding member (whatever that means) of the Greater Northern Alabama Lying Pilots Coffee Drinking and Hangar Talking Society. Members who are in town meet weekday mornings at Mullins Restaurant in Huntsville, AL, where the special each morning is two sausage biscuits for one dollar! That’s all we do, by the way. We eat breakfast and talk. We get a small but interesting crowd. At one time or another we get a FedEx pilot, a USAirways pilot, two retired rocket engineers, one surgeon pilot, and a high-tech aerial photographer (he has taken pictures from the Panama Canal to Minnesota). And this morning Matt Rainey showed up. We hadn’t seen much of Matt lately. He has been busy. Matt, an engineer, has been the... -
The News Still Looks Bad For Maintenance
- Thursday June 29, 2006So, the industry is in an upswing. Passenger levels are up. Revenue is up. Many airlines are predicting a profit for this quarter. So why is employment information so dismal? The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported last week that for the 16th consecutive month, employment at the airlines was down from the same time last year. For April, employment was down 4.8 percent compared to April 2005. You can go to www.bts.gov to read the full report. 16 months. That's a long time for consecutive employment reductions. What's even worse is that the numbers are now tracking against last year’s months that were down to begin with. Come to think of it, at the rate the airlines are going, they will eventually stop the employee...
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